How to Write Work Experience on Your Resume (With Examples)

Your work experience section is the heart of your resume.

This is where recruiters spend the most time. This is where hiring decisions happen. Everything else—your summary, skills, education—exists to support what you’ve actually done.

Get this section wrong, and nothing else matters. Get it right, and you’ve already separated yourself from 90% of applicants.

Here’s exactly how to do it.

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The Standard Work Experience Format

Every work experience entry needs these elements — or you can build your work experience section in the editor, which lays out the title, company, dates, and bullets for you:

JOB TITLE
Company Name | City, State | Month Year - Month Year

• Achievement-focused bullet point with metrics
• Achievement-focused bullet point with metrics
• Achievement-focused bullet point with metrics
• Achievement-focused bullet point with metrics

Example Entry

Senior Marketing Manager
Acme Corporation | San Francisco, CA | March 2021 - Present

• Led rebranding initiative that increased brand awareness by 45% within 6 months
• Managed $2.5M annual marketing budget, delivering 20% higher ROI than previous year
• Built and mentored team of 6 marketers, reducing turnover from 40% to 10%
• Launched email marketing program generating $1.2M in attributed revenue

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Chronological Order: Why It Matters

Always list experience in reverse chronological order—most recent position first.

Why Reverse Chronological?

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What to Include in Each Entry

Required Elements

Element	Format	Example
Job Title	Bold or slightly larger font	Marketing Manager
Company Name	Standard font	Acme Corporation
Location	City, State	San Francisco, CA
Dates	Month Year - Month Year	March 2021 - Present
Achievements	Bullet points	• Led campaign that generated $500K

Optional Elements

Element	When to Include	Example
Brief company description	Unknown companies	”(Series B fintech startup, $50M ARR)“
Team size managed	Leadership roles	”Managed team of 12”
Reporting structure	Senior roles	”Reported to VP of Marketing”
Key technologies	Technical roles	”Stack: Python, AWS, PostgreSQL”

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How Many Jobs to Include

The answer depends on your career stage:

What to Do with Older Positions

For positions beyond your main entries:

Option 1: “Earlier Experience” Summary

EARLIER EXPERIENCE

Marketing Coordinator | StartupCo | 2012-2015
Marketing Assistant | Agency Inc. | 2010-2012

Option 2: Omit Entirely

If older positions don’t add value and there’s no visible gap, you can omit them. Resumes aren’t legal documents requiring complete history (except for federal positions).

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Bullet Points: The Achievement Formula

This is where most resumes fail. They list duties instead of achievements. If turning duties into results is the stuck point, write stronger resume bullets from what you actually did.

The Problem with Duties

The Achievement Formula

Use this structure for every bullet:

[Action Verb] + [What You Did] + [Quantified Result]

Achievement Examples by Function

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Numbers and Metrics: What to Quantify

Numbers aren’t the only thing worth getting right here—so is how you present job titles on resume entries.

Types of Metrics to Include

When You Don’t Have Exact Numbers

Estimate reasonably. You don’t need decimal-point accuracy.

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Action Verbs: Start Strong

Every bullet should begin with a strong action verb. Avoid passive language.

Power Verbs by Category

Leadership: Led, Directed, Managed, Supervised, Coordinated, Mentored, Built

Achievement: Achieved, Exceeded, Delivered, Generated, Produced, Secured, Won

Creation: Developed, Created, Designed, Launched, Established, Implemented, Built

Improvement: Improved, Increased, Enhanced, Optimized, Streamlined, Accelerated, Transformed

Analysis: Analyzed, Evaluated, Assessed, Identified, Researched, Investigated, Diagnosed

Verbs to Avoid

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Formatting Decisions

Date Formats

Most of these decisions are already made for you if you browse ATS-safe templates and build on one.

Pick one format and use it consistently:

Format	Example	Best For
Month Year	March 2021 - Present	Standard, most transparent
Month/Year	03/2021 - Present	Compact alternative
Year only	2021 - Present	When hiding short tenures

Handling Current Position

For your current job, use:

• “Present” (most common)
• “Current” (acceptable)
• Actual end date only if you’re leaving imminently

City and State Format

Standard format: City, State (for US) or City, Country (international)

✅ San Francisco, CA
✅ New York, NY
✅ London, UK
✅ Remote

❌ San Francisco, California (too long)
❌ SF, CA (too informal)

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Special Situations

Multiple Roles at Same Company

Show progression by listing each role separately:

ACME CORPORATION | San Francisco, CA | 2018 - Present

Senior Marketing Manager | 2021 - Present
• [achievements for this role]

Marketing Manager | 2019 - 2021
• [achievements for this role]

Marketing Coordinator | 2018 - 2019
• [achievements for this role]

Promotions Within Same Role

If your title changed but responsibilities were similar:

Marketing Manager (promoted from Coordinator) | 2018 - Present
• [combined achievements across the promotion]

Contract or Freelance Work

Grouped Example:

Freelance Marketing Consultant | 2020 - 2022
Clients included: Tech startups, healthcare companies, e-commerce brands

• Developed marketing strategies for 12+ clients, averaging 35% lead generation increase
• Created content programs generating 500K+ monthly page views combined
• Managed $50K-200K campaign budgets across paid social and search

Employment Gaps

Address gaps directly rather than leaving them unexplained:

Career Sabbatical | 2022 - 2023
• Completed Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate
• Provided part-time consulting for 3 startups
• Family caregiving responsibilities

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Tailoring for Different Roles

Your work experience should be customized for each application. If doing that by hand for every application isn’t realistic, you can tailor your resume to the job instead.

How to Tailor

Example: Same Experience, Different Emphasis

For a Management Role:

• Led 12-person marketing team across brand, content, and performance functions
• Developed career growth framework that reduced turnover by 60%
• Managed $2.5M annual budget with 20% efficiency improvement

For an Individual Contributor Role:

• Created integrated campaigns generating $1.2M in attributed revenue
• Developed content strategy that increased organic traffic by 150%
• Built automated reporting system saving 15 hours of manual work weekly

Same person, same company—different framing based on what the new role requires.

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Common Mistakes to Avoid

Mistake 1: Listing Duties Instead of Achievements

Mistake 2: No Quantification

Numbers prove impact. Without them, claims are just claims.

Mistake 3: Too Many Bullets

More isn’t better. 10 mediocre bullets are weaker than 4 strong ones.

Mistake 4: Inconsistent Formatting

If one job has bullets and another has paragraphs, it looks rushed.

Mistake 5: Irrelevant Experience

That summer lifeguard job from college doesn’t belong on a senior engineer’s resume.

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Work Experience by Career Level

Entry-Level / Recent Graduate

Challenge: Limited professional experience

Solution:

• Include internships, part-time jobs, relevant projects
• Focus on transferable skills and learning velocity
• Academic projects can count as experience

Marketing Intern | Tech Startup | Summer 2024
• Created social media content reaching 10K+ followers
• Analyzed campaign performance using Google Analytics
• Collaborated with design team on 5 product launch assets

Mid-Career Professional

Challenge: Balancing depth with brevity

Solution:

• Focus on the last 10 years
• Highlight progression and increasing responsibility
• Quantify impact at every level

Senior / Executive

Challenge: Too much experience to include

Solution:

• Focus on strategic impact, not tactical details
• Emphasize P&L responsibility, team building, business outcomes
• Summarize older experience briefly

VP of Marketing | Enterprise Company | 2019 - Present
• Built marketing organization from 5 to 45 team members across 3 functions
• Drove 150% revenue growth ($50M to $125M) through integrated GTM strategy
• Established marketing as profit center with 3.5x ROI on $15M budget

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Final Quality Check

Before submitting, verify your work experience section passes these tests:

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Templates by Experience Level

Entry-Level Template

WORK EXPERIENCE

[Job Title]
[Company Name] | [City, State] | [Month Year - Month Year]

• [Achievement with metric, demonstrating relevant skill]
• [Achievement showing initiative or learning]
• [Achievement demonstrating collaboration or communication]

[Internship Title]
[Company Name] | [City, State] | [Month Year - Month Year]

• [Key responsibility or achievement]
• [Skill developed or applied]

Mid-Career Template

WORK EXPERIENCE

[Current/Most Recent Title]
[Company Name] | [City, State] | [Month Year - Present]

• [Major achievement with quantified impact]
• [Leadership or team achievement]
• [Process improvement or efficiency gain]
• [Cross-functional collaboration or stakeholder management]
• [Technical or specialized accomplishment]

[Previous Title]
[Company Name] | [City, State] | [Month Year - Month Year]

• [Key achievement with metrics]
• [Growth or progression indicator]
• [Relevant accomplishment for target role]

Senior/Executive Template

WORK EXPERIENCE

[Executive Title]
[Company Name] | [City, State] | [Month Year - Present]

• [Strategic business impact with P&L or revenue metrics]
• [Organizational building achievement (team size, structure)]
• [Major initiative or transformation led]
• [Board-level or executive stakeholder engagement]

[Previous Executive Title]
[Company Name] | [City, State] | [Month Year - Month Year]

• [Business outcome achieved]
• [Team or organizational impact]
• [Strategic accomplishment]

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The Bottom Line

Your work experience section is your proof of value.

Every entry should answer the question: “What did you accomplish, and why should we care?”

Duties describe what you were hired to do. Achievements prove what you actually delivered. Recruiters have seen thousands of job descriptions—they want to see what makes you different.

Lead with impact. Quantify everything. Make every bullet count.

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